HYPOCRISY VS TRANSPARENCY
Luke 12:1-7
A man and a woman stopped to buy some fried chicken and after they had paid for their food, they were handed a paper bag which, they assumed, contained their food. When they arrived at the place where they planned to eat, they opened up the bag and found that it contained the day’s proceeds, and not their food. The man closed the bag, went back to the place where he had been given the bag, and handed back the money, much to the relief of the employee who had mistakenly handed him the wrong bag. The management of the business was so delighted at the man’s honesty that they wanted to do something to honor the man. They started to call the press, so that a photographer could come and take his picture. The man was very insistent that this not be done. Finally, because they seemed intent on calling the press anyway, the man explained the reason of his reluctance. “The woman with me is not my wife.”
In the preceding text of the Gospel of Luke our Lord has just rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The Lord Jesus will warn His disciples to avoid the “leaven of the Pharisees” which, He says, is hypocrisy. Two questions come to mind as we consider our Lord’s words: In what way is hypocrisy “yeast-like”? And in what way is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees a danger to disciples?Hypocrisy as defined by Webster’s is the act of preaching a certain belief, religion or way of life, but not, in fact, holding these same virtues oneself. For example, a Father telling his children not to smoke cigarettes, even though he himself smokes.For linguist and social analyst Noam Chomsky, hypocrisy, as the refusal to "...apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others."On the other hand, there can be no doubt that yeast is a leavening agent. Any baker will tell us that a little yeast is enough to make a whole batch of dough rise. Just a little of it affects everything.In today’s gospel the yeast that is mention by Jesus is the attitude of the Pharisees, narrow-mindedness which result into hypocrisy. Just a little of the attitude of these people affects everything, corrupts everything, exactly like a yeast. The problem with the Pharisees was not that they were big sinners, they were the best of people, but they tended to think that only those like them had any value in the sight of God. That is why any effort of Jesus to proclaim that everyone is valuable in the sight of God is block by them.Unfortunately hypocrisy is not an exclusive sin of the Pharisees. And it is not coincidence that at the very time the crowds are increasing greatly in size, Jesus warns his disciples "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." The greater the crowd size, the greater temptation the disciples have to put on airs as the pious inner circle of Jesus' disciples. While the Pharisees desired the praise of the people for appearing to be righteous (hypocrisy), the disciples would be tempted to try to avoid the anger and violence of the crowds by not appearing to be righteous, a follower of Christ.I fear that hypocrisy is also the sin of many Christians, including us seminarians in formation and Priest in ministry. Let me sight 3 of the characteristic actions of hypocrisy:1. Hypocrisy is an inconsistency. Meaning there is discrepancy between what appears to be and what is the truth.2. Hypocrisy is a deliberate deception. Deliberately appearing to be what we are not. It is not accidental, but purposeful. Hypocrisy is a pretense. Appearance does not match with reality.3. Hypocrisy is conformity to the values and expectations of someone else. It means even if we know what is truthful and what is good, we still bow to other people’s values which are not Godly and not our own. Hypocrisy is dying our hair green if the group we are a part of has defined friendship as having green hair, knowing in our hearts that green hair has nothing to do with being friends. Hypocrites adjust and accommodate their appearance to what people think or feel in order to fit in.Pero ayaw kabalaka mga igsoon tunogd kay adunay tambal niining maong sakit. The antidote to hypocrisy is transparency, which is honesty to oneself, to others and to God; integrity between our beliefs and our actions; humility, the willingness to accept my limitations and submit myself to Growth Accompaniment. This is the reason I think why human formation is very relevant to our formation to the priesthood. Because hypocrisy can block our capacity to serving God and the people entrusted to our care.My brothers in formation and formators, today we are challenge to examine ourselves, to look deep down in our being and identify our hypocrisies and surrender them to God, the ultimate truth and the ultimate light.May St. Ignatius of Antioch, who has an enthusiastic devotion to duty, a passionate love of sacrifice, and an utter fearlessness in the defense of Christian truth, inspire us to be more truthful to ourselves and to God.
